Gaillardia × grandiflora

Transcription

Hello, my name is Grace Parsley, and today we are going to learn about the Gaillardia x grandiflora. What is the Gaillardia x grandiflora you ask? Well let's start from the beginning. The Gaillardia x grandiflora or commonly known as the Blanket Flower, is a part of the Asteraceae family, and it is a Perennial. It has a daisy like flower that is 3 to 4 inches across. It comes in the colors of Red, Yellows, Oranges, and accenting whites. Its leaves are Alternate, mostly Basal, Pinnately Lobed, and 8 to 10 inches long. They have a greyish green color that are coarsely toothed with a hair suite. Alright now that we know a little more about the Gaillardia x grandiflora, commonly known as the Blanket Flower. Let's go look at the live plant! And here in my yard I have a Gaillardia x grandiflora, its dwarf size and its cultivator is g. 'Baby Cole.' Blanket Flowers are known to have a long season bloom, that starts early in the summer, and will last until your first frost. As you can see here the flowers sit above what a like to call a clump hairy narrow greyish green leaves. Here I have taken a snipping so you can get a better visual of that." "Here is its stem, and it arises right above the foliage that sits down lower towards the ground. Some maintenance you want to know about your Blanket Flower is that it likes to be placed in Full Sun, with well drained soils. You will also want to make sure that you are dead heading it throughout the summer. What I like to do is snip it right down at the base, and since it does like to reseed itself I will just place it right down in the center. It creates less mess, plus I want more of my flower. Another thing you will want to know is that it doesn't like to have its roots really wet. That is a reason we place it in well drained soils, also in the winter time it doesn't like that winter wetness. Make sure to mulch it so that way its roots don't upheave. As your plant will tend to get a little floppy throughout the season, what I like to do is take my grass clippings that I have, and surround the base of it. It's a natural look, readily available, and it dies out, but it is a quick fix on keeping it propped up right and looking very beautiful. This cultivar is a great boarder plant and planting in containers. The taller cultivars make great cut flowers. Blanket Flowers also produce a very sweet nectar which attracts many butterflys, very beautiful in the summer time. And this is the Gaillardia x grandiflora, I'm Grace Parsley and I will catch you next time!